A bill passed the German parliament 393 votes to 226, and will come into effect later this year. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had somewhat unexpectedly opened the door to the snap vote earlier this week, voted against the change.

Despite the quick onset of the parliamentary vote, German activists have been agitating for marriage equality for decades. It would also have been an issue in the upcoming election.

Meanwhile in Australia... there's still a massive brawl about how marriage equality should be legalised.

Polling repeatedly shows that a majority of Australians support marriage equality. Both major party leaders support reform, as do a majority of parliamentarians.

However, the country is locked in a political stalemate over whether there should be a national vote on marriage (broadly supported by the government and anti-marriage equality groups) or a vote in the parliament (broadly supported by the opposition and LGBTI rights groups).

So when the German news broke on Friday afternoon Australia time, a lot of people were like: